


How Law Met Sanji  - or How it is Sometimes Better to Trust Your Bear

by Alainne1



Series: ALotBSoL-universe [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drug Withdrawal, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-06
Updated: 2017-01-06
Packaged: 2018-09-15 07:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9224933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alainne1/pseuds/Alainne1
Summary: How Law finds home in the most unlikely of places - A story of help that was needed and decisions that were better not made. A side story to Always Look on the Bright Side of Life (the first fic in this series). Might work on it's own, too.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place about two years before the main story begins. It helps if you've read the main story, but this might actually work as a stand alone, too. It sheds some light to the history between Law and Sanji, and I hope you all like it. If you have read the main fic, I have no warnings to add, but if you are new to this series, please take into consideration that the themes in these works can be heavy and depressing to some.

”Where did the little punk run?” a man shouts and a thin, blond boy presses himself against the cold concrete wall behind his back. “I swear I saw him just now…” The words turn into angry muttering, but the boy doesn’t release the breath he is holding. Not yet.

His heartbeat is drumming against his chest and cold sweat is starting to freeze on his cheeks and exposed neck. Why does it have to be so fucking cold? Sometimes the boy likes the winter, but today he would give anything to live in a warmer state. The winters in Grand Line get so freaking cold sometimes, and this is one of those times. His thin body is shaking as he strains his ears to listen. It isn’t easy to hear anything over the frantic beating of his own heart and the humming that fills his ears, but he hears. There are footsteps close by, unusually loud because of the frosty snow crunching against the rubbery soles of heavy winter boots. The boy waits and wishes he could disappear.

He nearly did. Disappear. He might’ve not realized it himself, but he was so thin, pale and dirty grey that the concrete wall behind him and the grey snow around him seemed to suck him right in. Oh, he was disappearing, right into the depressing landscape of Water 7 whether he wanted or not.

This was how Trafalgar Law first found him. Frantic, frail and lost. So utterly lost that Law wasn’t sure if he was worth saving. Yes, you could say Law sometimes saved people. He offered a room to stay for some, and work for some, but there wasn’t even a hint of altruism in what he did. If he picked up people from the streets, it was purely because he saw the use he could put them into later on. He did help, but he never offered his help to someone he couldn’t see paying helping him once back on their feet.

That was why Law, seeing the helpless and lost look in kid’s eyes, seeing the beaten up body that shook and pushed cold sweat in heavy addiction to whatever shit the kid had been shooting, and seeing the will that had been crushed under the freezing winter, decided to walk away. He knew that he could as well be condemning the kid to death, but if he always stopped to help everyone who were reaching the end of their time in Water 7, he could just as well bid farewell to all his dreams, ambitions and plans. The helpless were just that many and Law was just one selfish man.

“Bepo,” he said patting his thigh gently. The white bear gave him a questioning look, but didn’t budge. “Bepo,” Law repeated with a gentle command in his voice.

The kid looked up, apparently noticing their presence for the first time. His blue eyes went wide as he saw the bear and they darted from Law to the bear in horror. Law stared at the kid for a few seconds longer, stared into the strange abyss of his eyes that he saw only now. There was something intriguing and encompassing in them despite the fear and addiction clouding them. The blue of the kid’s eyes was the only sparkle of hope he saw in the kid, and it shined vividly against the pale gray skin, the dark circles and the dirty blond hair hanging in clumps on his forehead. The kid looked beautifully haunted and somewhere in the back of his mind Law realized that this moment would’ve made a National Geographic worthy picture if someone was there to take it. Then he sighed and turned around. Whatever he had seen in the kid’s eyes a moment ago wasn’t worth the work it would take to get him back on his feet. He was too far gone. Too lost in his addiction. 

Law hadn’t had time to take but a few steps when he heard a high-pitched scream behind him.

“Go away!” the kid screamed, his voice cracking under pressure. “Don’t…”

The kid was still pressed against the wall, clearly too scared to move, as Bepo closed in on him. The look in the kid’s eyes was pure horror and Law realized he must’ve been a bit of a sadist not to call the bear off. He didn’t, though. Instead he watched as Bepo gave long, scratchy licks all over the kid’s face and found himself laughing at the sight.

 

###

 

“Stay away from me, creep,” the kid snapped as soon as his eyes opened. The few lone fibers of relaxation that had been there as he slept were gone in an instant. His body tensed visibly as his eyes darted around the room.

Law sighed and bit back a curse. He was getting tired after staying awake all night, watching the kid sleep restlessly. He’d needed to hold him down a few times when his trashing got really bad, and now not only was his head aching from the lack of sleep, but also his chin from an unconscious but insanely powerful kick the kid had somehow dealt at him in his sleep.

“Where am I?” the kid grunted and Law saw straight through his angry tone to the fear and anxiety filling his mind.

“A safe place. My place.”

“Fuck you,” the kid spat. Then his eyes darted towards the door. Law looked up and heard the footsteps, too.

There was a soft knock on the door and then Penguin’s head appeared in the narrow crack. “Hey, Law? What’s going on?”

“Nothing much.”

“Oh…” Penguin’s eyes had found the kid and he gave a small nod. “I’m gonna make some breakfast. Call me if you need anything.” He was about to close the door, when he added: “Bepo’s a bit anxious.”

“Let him in, it should be fine now.”

“Bepo?” the kid repeated, a hint of recollection in his voice. “The beast? Take that fucking—“ he went suddenly silent as Bepo quietly padded through the open door.

“Don’t be so harsh on Bepo,” Law said, and then added with a slanted smile: “He’s the only reason you’re alive right now.”

The kid just stared at the bear.

“Besides, he seems to like you,” Law added as Bepo stopped by the bed the rested his enormous muzzle next to the kid’s hand. The kid flinched when Bepo gave him a tentative lick. “What did I tell you,” Law said, some real warmth reaching his smile for a change, “he likes you.”

The kid just stared at the silently. Then, all of a sudden, his body jerked violently, he shot up sitting in his bed and without any warning threw up on his lap. The kid kept gagging and dry heaving, Bepo wrinkled his nose and Law sighed. As if on cue, the door opened again.

“I brought you some coff—“ Penguin stopped at the door, threw one quick glance at the bed and sighed. “Oh well, I can do the laundry.” He left the room and a few seconds Law heard the bathtub faucet open.

“Let’s get you cleaned up, kid,” Law said and the kid showed no resistance when Law dragged him out of the bed and walked him to the bathroom. He stayed phlegmatic as Law started helping him out of his clothes. The kid still had his ripped jeans on and a dress shirt that might’ve been white in some previous life. It was only now that the kid seemed to realize that the left sleeve of his shirt had been cut off.

“What the hell?” he hissed, staring at his bared arm. Then his eyes fixed to the inside of his elbow that was cleaned and disinfected, and several shades paler than the rest of his dirty skin.

“I just gave you something to help you sleep,” Law explained. “Don’t worry, I’m a doctor.”

“What did you do to me?”

“Nothing worse than you’ve done to yourself.” The kid looked up at him and Law replied with a bored look. “You’ve been shooting, what? Heroin?” he asked and eyed the inside of the kids arm. Even from under the layer of dirt he could see how abused the veins were. Skin and soft tissue infections were common in intravenous drug users and this kid was no exception. “I gave you something to ease the weaning off a bit. If you go cold turkey from the doses you’ve been shooting your system might not survive the shock. Especially with the state you’re in, right now.”

The kid just stared, his eyes narrow and his breathing shallow.

“Malnourished,” Law continued, “probably down with more than a few infections, too.” He didn’t really care if the kid listened or not, but tried to keep some kind of conversation flowing however unnatural it felt for him. It would’ve been good to get some information out of the kid. He wanted to learn more about the kid’s medical history, and to do that he needed to get the kid talking. “What’s your name anyway?” Law asked.

The kid stared at him in silence, his blue eyes showing hints of defiance.

“Well, I’ll just call you kid then, for the little punk you are.” There was a flash of anger but the kid said nothing. “What are you? 15? 16?”

“18,” the kid snapped, and then shut his mouth tightly again.

Law’s lips curled into a small twisted smile. “It’s hard to tell when you’re so scrawny.”

“You’re the one to talk,” the kid hissed and his angry eyes swept up and down Law’s body.

Law chuckled. “At least I’m gonna live another day.”

The kid was about to shoot back a retort when his body doubled over and he started dry heaving violently again. Law guided him calmly over the toilet bowl and said nothing when the kid’s retching body was trying to expel the last contents of his stomach. Law waited without a word until the retching subsided.

“Now, take off those clothes and let’s clean you up,” Law said in a stern voice while reaching the hem of his own hoodie. Then he took off his socks, readying himself to help the kid bathe.

The kid did take off his clothes just like asked. Apparently the second wave of nausea had swept away the remains of his defiance, too.

“Into the tub,” Law said and watched as the kid climbed into the tub, his long limbs shaking as the steaming water enveloped his body. Law was a doctor, and as a doctor he had seen his share of ugliness and misfortune in people lives, but he’d never grown heartless enough when it came to sights like this. Both hands showed signs of repeated injections and infection at the injection sites. The major veins of the kid’s legs had some telltale red spots as well, but not all the damage to his body was self-inflicted. He had some ugly scars as well as fresher wounds around his ribcage and his left side was ominously covered in bruises of different shades and age. There was a small scar on his back that had been roughly stitched up by someone who knew nothing of stitching. It looked like a stab wound. Law wondered if the stab had reached the kidney as it looked like it had.

“Start scrubbing,” Law said, and while the words were harsh, he noticed that his tone had lost its edge. It was difficult to stay harsh and cold in front of someone so vulnerable and frail.

The kid reached for the sponge and soap and Law decided that he would probably need to refill the tub at least once before he could actually call the kid clean. He reached towards the kid’s head to get a better feel of the mob of hair that had been slowly gathering in dreads. The kid flinched at the touch but let him feel his hair anyway. It was impossible to get his hand through the mess and mere touching it gave Law a filthy feeling.

“I’m gonna shave your head,” Law said and went to retrieve scissors and a razor.

“No.”

Law waved the scissors in his hand. “If I leave it like that, God only knows the extent of horrors that will move from your head to my bedding.”

“No.”

“It looks like it was used by a bunch of sparrows for nesting – years ago – and there’s no way to get it clean as it is.”

“No.”

“It won’t take that long to grow back,“ Law said, his patience wearing thin. “We need to get you cleaned up, and frankly, that thing you call hair is not agreeing with my standards of being clean.”

“You live with a bear.”

“A clean bear, mind you, so let’s get on with it.”

“It’s still a freaking bear,” the kid muttered, but stayed still as Law approached him. It was a quick job, to snap off the messy dreads and lumps and then shave everything that remained off. The kid stayed still the whole time, and even though Law couldn’t see his face from where he was sitting, he was somehow sure that the kid had screwed his eyes tightly shut to brace for the procedure. For a moment he wondered if the kid was really 18 like he’d said. He felt like a child now, naked in the water that was slowly losing its heat.

Law had never had much of a caring side to him – at least not the motherly kind of caring. He had saved people from the streets before, but all of those people had become assets to him sooner or later.  He’d never felt especially caring towards any of those people, but rather just curious and calculating. He wondered if this kid would eventually turn into an asset as well, despite his initial judgement. Or maybe Bepo picked him because he wasn’t going to be an asset, but something else?

It wasn’t until Law had finished shaving the kid’s hair and was leaving the bathroom when he noticed the peculiar curly eyebrows the kid had been hiding under those lumps of hair.

 

###

 

The following week was tiresome to everyone living in the compound. Despite the doses of methadone that Law kept giving to the kid, the nights in the apartment were restless. The kid would wake up several times a night, screaming and trashing in his bed. Law never found out if it was because of nightmares or plain frustration of being locked up against his will. The kid let Law treat him, though, and allowed Law to draw blood in order to run some basic diagnostic tests. He let Law administrate antibiotics to reduce the infection on his skin and even complied when Law had to put him on a drip to keep him hydrated as his withdrawal ridden body kept expelling all fluids. The kid did rip of the IV more than once though, especially when he got one of his explosive bursts of anger. Law was lucky to have nothing worth worrying over in the room he was keeping the kid in. Not that many pieces of furniture would probably make their way through the week unscathed.

“I wonder what’s his story,” Penguin asked one day as they sat at the kitchen table.

“The same as everyone’s,” Shachi said and there was a weird unspoken sense of understanding in the room. They all had their stories.

“Everyone’s story is different.”

“Not that different. Everyone who end up here has roughly the same story.”

Law said nothing. They were both right, of course.

“How was the kid?” Shachi asked.

Penguin glanced back towards the door. “Awake, and alive.”

“It’s surprisingly quiet. Thought he was sleeping.”

“He’s with Bepo.”

Law looked up. “With Bepo?” he asked and scanned the room to make sure the bear really was absent from the living room.

“It’s been  on since last night. Guess the fluffy bastard got through to him first, after all,” Penguin said, chuckling.

“Though you made a mighty fine effort, too, boss,” Shachi added with a grin.

“Meaning?”

“I don’t remember the last time you’ve been kind like that to anyone. Except to Bepo.”

“Shut it, I was just treating him like any doctor would.”

“That’s the thing, boss. You hardly ever treat anyone like an actual doctor would. Remember me breaking my arm last year? You were an utter bastard to me back then. Not like a doctor by any standard.”

“Doctors are often utter bastards,” Law huffed tetchily.

Shachi’s grin grew wider. “The more reason to wonder how come you were so humane with the kid.”

“He’s still not telling his name, is he?” Penguin asked too quickly not to make it obvious that he was eager to change the subject before Law lost his temper with Shachi.

“He’s a weird kid,” Shachi jumped on the new topic without a pause. “I don’t know what to make of him.”

Law didn’t know either. The kid seemed to pull strings in him – strings that Law wasn’t sure had even existed before. It made no sense to care for a kid he’d known only for a few days. A kid he knew almost nothing about. Law did not especially care for the people in his life. Shachi and Penguin were the closest things to friends he had and they were around only because they worked for him. He did recognize some sort of brotherly feeling towards that small boy in Kureha’s care, Chopper, but it was most likely because the boy aspired to become a doctor. Law could see something of himself in a small boy who aspires to become a doctor.

Maybe that was the case here, too. Did Law see himself in this kid? This beaten up drug addict who seemed so much younger than the years he claimed to be? Law had never been like that. Law had never brought such state upon himself. But he knew what it was to be abused, and never mind how self-inflicted the kid’s state was, he was abused – at least by himself, probably by others, too. And yet he’d seen the defiance in the kid’s eyes. The same defiance that had been so dear to him. The only thing that he’d been able to hold onto at times. His defiance.

 

###

 

Eventually the withdrawal symptoms subsided. The kid started eating again without puking everything out as soon as it touched his stomach. There were first signs of his hair growing back too, albeit it was so blond that it was hard to see at first. He was still pale like a ghost and that’s how he felt, too, in the apartment. A ghost. He would appear to the living room without a word and watch the TV silently for hours. He might join them when they ate, or at times food just disappeared from the fridge. He never asked anything from them or told them anything of himself. Law stopped asking question after a while.

Law had received the results of the kid’s blood tests after the first week and was relieved to find out that the kid had somehow managed to avoid the few nasty ones he’d been expecting to see, especially Hepatitis C and HIV. After the first month Law dropped off methadone and the kid was finally completely weaned off opioids. Law grew accustomed of having the ghost-like kid around, even if their interaction was sparse. The kid was not locked in anymore, but he went outside rarely and always came back. Law wondered how long the kid would stay around – and how long could he keep the kid around without admitting to himself that the kid seemed to be no use to him. Law didn’t keep around dead weight and he was not sure why this kid would be any different. He dreaded the day when he would need to face himself and finally throw the kid out.

It was only after the kid’s hair had grown long enough to cover those curly eyebrows of his when Law decided that it was time. It was time to show the kid the door. He couldn’t have the kid living in his apartment forever despite however much Bepo seemed to like him. Law was annoyed at how difficult the decision had been. It was as if he’d not only grown accustomed to the kid, but also grown attached. He couldn’t afford attached. He gathered only certain kinds of people around him. Shachi and Penguin who worked for him. Kureha who was an accomplished doctor. Bepo who made him sleep better at night. Not this kid who contributed nothing. He had to kick him out – if for nothing else, then out of principle. No dead weight.

When Law stepped in the kitchen, he had a firm resolve – a resolve that crumbled in front of him in an instant. His kitchen had never looked as much of a home as it did at that moment.

“Oi, boss,” Penguin sang in a delighted voice. “This is awesome!”

“Damn right it is!” Shachi echoed. “Come over here and we can start.”

They were sitting at the kitchen table, Bepo lying in their feet. The table was set beautifully and it was brimming with pots and pans. The aroma filling room was hypnotizing to say the least. Law had probably never seen or smelled anything as appetizing in his whole life. And the kid stood there, behind the kitchen counter, wearing a stupid apron Law didn’t remember owning. His hands were covered with large oven mitts and he was holding a steaming pot of something. Probably something delicious. And he smiled at Law, and it was the first time Law saw the kid smile.

The smile lit up his eyes and they shone right at Law and Law wasn’t sure he was prepared to take in the warmth that began stirring inside him because of those eyes and that smile. The kid looked beautiful unlike anyone he’d seen in a long, long time. The kid looked like home and it nearly swept Law off his feet.

“Come on, boss, we’re dying to start here!”

“We were waiting for you!”

“Oh,” Law said, trying to take his eyes off the kid and failing miserably. He was staring now, blatantly, and the realization of how embarrassing it must have looked, was enough to finally get him to turn his eyes towards the table again. 

The table did look wonderful and the room was filled with an eager silence as Law took his seat.

“It’s a thank you,” the kid said in a serious tone. “A thank you for taking me in.”

“If this is as good as it looks, we’re never gonna let you out, you know,” Penguin laughed.

Law found himself staring at the kid again. He looked taller now that he was standing straight and older too, since his hollowed cheeks had filled up. He was still a lanky youngster with long limbs, but today Law might’ve actually believed he was 18 like he claimed.

“Think nothing of it,” Law said, staring at the serious blue eyes. “Like I said, it was Bepo’s decision to begin with, not mine, kid, so thank him if you want to thank someone.”

“I have,” the kid said, his eyes flicking towards the sleeping bear. “Thanked him, I mean.” He smiled again, embarrassed, and Law’s stomach – or maybe spleen, who knows – flipped in a most unlikely manner. “But I feel I need to thank you, too.”

Law nodded. “It’s okay, kid.”

“Sanji,” the kid said, suddenly very serious.

“What?”

 “The name…” the kid’s voice trailed of as a smile returned on his face. “It’s Sanji.”

**Author's Note:**

> Tell me your thoughts! For a long time I had the feeling that I just needed to tell the back story of Law and Sanji better. I wasn't able to put this into the main fic because it would've screwed the pacing, but here it is now! Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
